[The Story] Buying Their Farm I

The world of “TheStory” can’t just anecdotally revolve around John and Trishna. Learning about related and peripheral characters can help enrich the overall narrative, especially as I start digging into details. Why do Trishna’s parents, Divit (left) and Brigit (right), own a farm? It’s hard work compared to our current digital work. Was it out of appeal? How much of it was out of necessity? Are farms even profitable in their world? Let’s explore.

To explore my context, as a cityslicker with the briefest anecdotal experience, I haven’t really experienced the farming life. Relatedly, I briefly considered becoming a landscaper. The money is there and it’s lucrative work, for half the year. I didn’t have the right opportunity to switch, and now it seems like the digital gig life is a better way to enable me to write in the mornings, evenings, and weekends. It’s less exciting work, too.

If Trishna’s family own a farm, how can I make that experience authentic?

Trishna’s parents probably bought the farm, both literally purchasing land and building a farm along with figuratively leaving behind their lives of conflict to settle in a peaceful rural setting, for the appeal and necessity. Landscaping, which is just a taste of agriculture, is enjoyable work when the weather is good. You work up a good sweat, it’s meditative, you get to operate heavy machinery, and you get away from the grind of corporate living.

I imagine that’s the appeal for me and these characters.

Since I’m vicariously living my farming fantasy through Divit and Brigit, then shouldn’t it be lucrative enough to be rewarding? While there’s something to be said for hobby work where you can make mistakes that don’t affect your life or self-confidence, farming couldn’t be a casual hobby. It’d be a full-time job. I imagine it’d be possible for two people to attempt and achieve, yet there’s the problem: I don’t have enough experience in farming.

Who does? People, of course!

With “The Gig Life VII” as an example, I wrote that Trishna’s niece Alejandría woke up smiling. It’s nice imagery, yet it turns out that’s not realistic. Most babies don’t like being woken up. It’s a detail “you’d only know if you had kids.” Now she wakes up more realistically.

Sure, learning about farming and babies might seem trivial.

Quant discoveries like these two examples can be powerful inspirations for changes. Since I’m investing most of my free time into writing, in order to write the best possible material I can, I should be actively overcoming shyness by fact checking with as many people as often as I can!

I hate factual falsehoods in fiction.
Get it right or don’t write it!

So I’ve started consulting with an agricultural consultant for farm worldbuilding. “They might specialize in milking cows or farming crops to stay afloat.”

My big goal is to write. My important goal is to write "TheStory." My proudest moment is the most recent time I overcame a fear, which should have been today. I'm a better zombie than I was yesterday. Let's strive to be better everyday. (Avatar)